


I Leave You This

by MarcarellaPizza



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Ash Lynx Goes to Japan, Ash Lynx Needs A Hug, Banana Fish Ending Fix-It, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Gen, Hopeful Ending, ITS BEEN HALF A YEAR HELP, M/M, Nurses & Nursing, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Banana Fish, banana fish hurt me and i needed to fix this, sayounara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25858195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarcarellaPizza/pseuds/MarcarellaPizza
Summary: Aslan whips his head around to give her an incredulous look, hands waving in indication to himself. “I have a stab wound in my gut and a plastic straw in my dick. How the fuck am I going to shower?” She struggles to stifle a laugh.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 6
Kudos: 108





	I Leave You This

**Author's Note:**

> This was a 1 am drabble, please excuse it's choppiness, I just wanted to share this. I was in nursing class when I thought of it and just had to write it okay.

“Aslan Callenreese, 18 year old male, is in bed 37; a new transfer from the ICU. He came in last week with a laceration across the abdomen, apparently ruled as suicidal due to a letter they found with him that’s currently in our custody.” The handover notes pause as the head nurse looks up, sighing impishly. “He’s rather agitated and comes across aggressive, refuses to talk to anyone and is reluctant to receive care. Whoever volunteers to be his main nurse will have a one on one patient healthcare worker situation as a means to try and get him to open up. Any questions?”

The cramped room echoes a flurry of protests for their newest patient, each nurse almost determined to avoid the young boy and pass off the responsibility. It makes Barbara sigh, the unprofessionalism almost sickening as she listens to the complaints of her fellow coworkers.

“I’ll do it.” She eventually decides, cutting the sea of noise like a knife. The room turns to stare at her incredulously. No normal nurse would want to care for a patient like that willingly, however she wasn’t entirely normal to begin with. “It’s just basic OBS and antibiotics right?” The head nurse nods in answer. 

How hard could it be?

* * *

It turns out, much harder than she’d assumed. The room is a communal room, shared with three other men in a designated corner with which the furthest from the door was number 37. 

“Aslan? Aslan Callenreese? I’m—“

“Yeah, yeah, fuck off. I don’t want the stupid meds.” Comes his voice, heavy and tired. The boy that sits up in bed looks far too young to hold the scowl that he’s wearing. She briefly wonders what made him so sour.

“Alright then.” She simply says, and she can tell, even if the expression is minute, that she's cofuffled him with her complacency. “I’ll come back in an hour to take your vitals, I promise I’ll keep out of your way after that.”

And so Barbara leaves the room, throwing a glance over her shoulder to see the wary look Aslan spares his roommates. “Whatever.” He grumbles, rolling onto his side.

* * *

Barbara decides that an additional twenty minutes may be appreciated so she waits till after her break to record Aslan’s observation chart. 

When she enters the room, pushing the monitor machine in after, she sees how he watches her intensely. “Hello again Aslan.” She tries, smiling softly, “I hope you didn’t mind the extra time but I’m here now.”

“Just get it over and done with.” He grits out, pushing up the sleeve of the hospital gown. His pale arm is offered, almost reluctantly, as Barbara wraps the cuff of the blood pressure machine around it. She clips the peg around his opposite hand’s finger and hits a button, fetching a thermometer to stick between his lips. 

“Would I be able to check your wound Aslan? Just to ensure it’s not infected. I won’t force you to take antibiotics but I’d really hate for you to end up sick.” The monitor beeps and displays his heart rate and blood pressure, too which Barbara logs into Aslan’s patient record. The thermometer in his mouth flashes, displaying a reading before also being logged, packed and carted away.

“It’s fine. There’s no swelling or anything.” Aslan chooses to say, arms subconsciously folding around his middle. “Now leave me the hell alone.”

Barbara stills, staring at the blond boy in bed as he glares back at her, gaze burning through her very being. “Very well. I‘ll go.” She concedes, “But tomorrow you’re taking a shower. I heard from the other nurses that you’ve refused and as your newly appointed nurse I’m determined to keep you healthy and clean.”

She turns on her heel to take her leave, sanitizing hands with the hand wash at the base of one of the other sleeping patients' beds. It’s when she's almost out the door that she swears she hears him. 

“I’m already dirty.” 

Barbara wants to turn and ask what he means by that, but when she eventually does gather the courage to do so, he’s already facing the other way, pointedly ignoring her presence.

The small utterance doesn’t leave her mind for the rest of the day, gluing itself to her brain as she fills in the progress notes for her patient. A brief skimming of previous notes and the action plan for Aslan’s care give her nothing new. A series of agitated outbursts and yelling along with the noncompliance of recommended medical advice.

_Patient requested to be euthanized once conscious from surgery. Registered Nurse. BU._

_Aslan awoke four times in the midst of panic. Psychotherapist cleared him. Enrolled Nurse. YH._

_Aslan became agitated and verbally abusive towards Registered Nurse Bianca Uta. He settled after Nurse left the room and was given lunch. Enrolled Nurse. YH._

_Patient requested for missing items of belonging which have since been returned. Refused antibiotics and breakfast. Will not speak with nurse staff. Registered Nurse. HD._

With a frown, Barbara continues to read into the patient record for the mysterious blond, her heart panging with guilt as she reads over his information. No friends, no family, his only registered address was for a mansion of all places, owned by a late Dino Golzine. 

Barbara figures that there’s a reason there’s so little, and chooses to end her search. 

“How is that tyke? Running you up the walls yet?” A nurse wanders past, eyeing the patient name and records. “We think that he had a girlfriend or something who died. The letter he was holding when he was found had his name on it and everything.” The nurse clucks her tongue as she shakes her head. “Poor kid really, however I just couldn’t afford to spare more time on him. He didn’t want people around so I’ll give him that at least.”

“He doesn’t like people?” Barbara askes, an eyebrow raised quizzically. “Then what’s he doing in a room full of patients?”

“Convenience I suppose.” The nurse replies, pulling a chair out. She plops into it before turning on the terminal before her. “Not like there’s any valid reason in switching his rooms.”

Was she serious? Barbara couldn’t believe her ears, blinking as she registered the other’s words. “Valid reason? Did anyone ask him if he wanted a private room?”

She stands immediately, eyebrows furrowed as she gathers the documentation. Tucked in the sleeve of Aslan’s binder is a letter covered in maroon splotches, sealed in a plastic sheet. 

“Well no.” The nurse admits sheepishly, “He didn’t really ask for one.”

Barbara takes one good look at the woman, who is absentmindedly filling in a report, before huffing and marching up to the head nurse’s office. “Sheryl! Is room 23 still vacant? We need a room swap!”

* * *

The bewildered expression on Aslan’s face when Barbara and Sheryl enter, is unforgettable. “We’re moving you.” The older, blunt lady remarks, no pleasantries attached, before she begins to unlock the hospital bed’s wheels.

“Where are you taking me exactly?” Aslan asks. He doesn’t seem anymore phased by this than the head nurse, and so Barbara is only left to assume they’ve met before.

“Another room. Aren’t you a lucky boy. 23, all big and spacious and completely yours. You can thank Miss “It’s for the patient’s health” here.” The wheels are unlocked and the monitors are unplugged, leaving Aslan to stare at Barbara in contemplation.

“You’re moving me to another room.” He states. “By myself. While everyone else has me on suicide watch.”

“I personally believe that this environment is worsening your mental state.” She defends herself, cheeks reddening as she goes. “I assume you’d rather a private room than a shared one with completely random strangers.”

They begin to push and move the bed outside, passing the nurses and patients who shuffled about the corridors until they arrived at the secluded room at the end of the hallway. Once they’d situated Aslan into a proper place, locking the wheels and replugging him into the heart monitor, Sheryl eyes him before taking her leave.

“Hopefully you’ll be able to sleep easier without all those old men snoring.” Barbara winks. “But don’t tell them I told you that.”

In the bed, Aslan appears smaller, bright green eyes studying her physique for a moment before landing on her name tag. “Your name’s Barbara.” He says bluntly, lips quirking. “How ironic.”

She isn’t entirely sure what the irony behind her name is, but she lets him amuse himself as she finishes tidying up the room. “My mother chose it… it’s stupid really.” She waves a hand. “Now then. I’ll _actually_ leave you be this time… tomorrow we’ll still be doing that bath. Do you need anything else?”

She almost expects another grunt, or a sneer and a “fuck off”. Instead she's greeted with a simple “no”. And an awkward break of eye contact. 

Barbara hums. “Well then, I’ll give you this, and be on my way. Just… don’t tell anyone. Say you saw it in your record file while another nurse did your OBS or something and you took it back.” She hurries to slip him the letter tucked in a plastic sleeve, offering a small smile before parting.

This time, as she leaves the room, she hears a strangled cry, and a “Thank you” layered with what could have only been weeks of grief.

* * *

It turns out that none of the hospital staff are competent with their jobs, because no one has noticed the letter gone missing _or_ made a remark about the lack of aggression from a certain teenage boy. Barbara has to wonder where they’d even obtained their nursing credentials when no one had bothered to correctly fill in the patient progress notes.

Aslan is awake when she enters to greet him. In his lap is a now empty bowl of fruits. “Good morning, glad to see you’re eating.” She cheers. As she moves to clean up the breakfast tray, she eyes the corner of Aslan’s letter poking from underneath his pillow, smiling as she busies herself. “Is ‘Ash’ a nickname?”

Aslan freezes at the question, fingers idly playing with the hem of the bland hospital blanket. Then he nods. “Would you rather I called you that? Ash?” He shakes his head.

“Only Eiji calls me Ash” he turns away, concentrating hard on a particular smudge on the ground.

“That’s alright. Nicknames are strange things.” Barbara agrees, “People sometimes call me Barb. Like I’m some middle aged lady working at a diner. Anyway, as I said yesterday, you’re having a bath.” 

Aslan whips his head around to give her an incredulous look, hands waving in indication to himself. “I have a stab wound in my gut and a plastic straw in my dick. How the fuck am I going to shower?” She struggles to stifle a laugh, but manages to compose herself as Aslan pouts.

“Well ideally a bed bath. I’ll bring a plastic basin full of soapy water and a washcloth. Usually I’d assist you but I know you’d probably like your privacy so I’ll pull the curtains around you and wait in here. The waiting part unfortunately is due to the fact that your registered as potentially suicidal.”

“But you don’t think I am… do you?” Aslan guesses, frowning a little. “I… thought I was at first.” He said slowly, But now I just want to go back home.” There’s a sense of longing in his voice that Barbara can’t help but ask about.

“You mean the mansion on your address records?” Apparently that had been the wrong assumption, for Aslan made a face of disgust.

“The old bitch who owned the place is dead. I never want to set foot in that horrid place again.” He mutters. “I want to go home…. to Japan.”

Barbara sucks into the bathroom to fetch a basin and some soapy water, setting them aside on the table for Aslan to reach for as she grabs a cloth. “You mentioned a person earlier, Eiji— is he in Japan?”

The curtains are tugged around the hospital bed as Aslan wiggles into an upright position. Once secured from view, Barbara walks to close the room door. “He doesn’t know I’m alive.” Ash mutters. “No one does. They all think I died.” 

_They would be here otherwise_. 

In all her years of nursing, Barbara is unsure of how to respond. This boy, separated from her by nothing but a curtain, was an enigma. “Do you want to see them? Your friends and Eiji I mean. I could try and track them down and—“

“No.” The answer is curt, decisive and yet so desperate. The splash of water fills the room as Barbar waits. “I don’t care about them anymore.” There’s what sounds like the slightest of lies mixed into his tone of voice, almost as if it were paining him to say aloud. 

“I’m sure they’d want to see you safe.” She insists. She knows that within her scope of practice she must protect the confidentiality of her patient, she knows that going against his wishes may disturb his mental health. She knows and yet she still wishes she could at least offer more.

Aslan sighs from behind the curtain, the sound of clothes ruffling and the basin being pushed away indicating that it was safe to remove the curtain. Barbara moves to pull it away, slow at first to give the boy time to call out if he wasn't ready. 

When the fabric is secured behind the bed, she turns to offer antibiotics from the medical tray. “That’s the problem.” His words send a shiver down her spine as he reaches for the pills. 

She can only stare as he downs them dry, surprised for once, that he's willingly accepted the healthcare. 

It’s not much, but it’s progress.

* * *

There are three medical officers, a stack of incident reports and the remains of one of the air vents. Surrounding the now open hole in the wall, is a clatter of tools, brick rubble, a hospital gown and a still dripping intravenous catheter. 

Barbara doesn’t need to be told by the medical staff that it’s Aslan who's gone missing.

She’ll say it now and she’ll say it again; nurses, especially the night staff, were incompetent at their bloody jobs.

“No one saw him dig out a metal grate with a scalpel and a pair of scissors and crawl through?!” She gaped, staring at the staff on duty. The medical officers had been in the process of reviewing the security footage. Nothing. 

“He was stealthy, Barb… like a ninja. We’re trying to locate him now.” Came a curt reply, but it did nothing to qualm her fears.

“He’s an 18 year old boy! It’s not like he was trained by the military to be a spy!” She blurted out. “Have you checked his room?”

“Nothing. All his things are gone and the drawers are empty.” Sheryl calls out. She too, looks tired and grumpy. 

Shocked, Barbara makes her way to the isolated room, pushing the door open to find everything in pristine condition. If it weren’t for the bed having been made in a way without the proper hospital corners, she’d have thought that the foolish nurses had cleaned up the room already.

“Aslan where did you go?”

She wanders into the room’s bathroom, peering into all the cabinets, shelves and spaces that a boy could seemingly hide in. Of course she finds nothing, it’s as if he were never there.

It’s when she sighs in defeat, heading out of the bathroom, that she notices the awkward angle of the hospital bed, in a position unlike how it’d been when they’d moved Aslan in. Glancing around, she could see that the bedsheets themselves were not as pristine as she’d thought, they crumpled around the middle, as if someone had sat there.

But he couldn’t have just vanished, could he? Poking the space curiously, Barbara glanced around the room from the side of the bed, as if she could pinpoint exactly what the boy had seen and been thinking.

There was a slip of paper tucked into the panel of the ceiling.

Curiously, she climbed onto the bed, the positioning and blankets suddenly making sense, as she jumped, snatching the paper and letting the panel snap shut. She only just manages to smooth her shirt down and hide it when the nursing staff enter to inspect the room.

“Find anything?” An officer asks, wandering over to the bathroom to take a look. Seemingly satisfied with the discovery of nothing, they turn to her.

“No.” Barbara lies through her teeth. She knows that there’s a reason why that paper had been hidden and she planned to keep her patient’s confidentiality until she found out herself. “The bed was remade and everything was tidied… I’d hate to know what that means.”

She walks past them in order to return to the main hospital ward. It’s a lame excuse, but there are other patients that she needs to attend to while everyone is distracted. Once alone, she slips the paper out from her pocket and unfolds it. She’s greeted with the familiar text of a food menu, one of the things that patients use to indicate what they’d like for the meals that week.

Skimming the paper, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, only foods that Aslan seemed to have wanted for lunch that day. Strange how he’d selected everything to do with pumpkin. Frowning, she stares at it longer, as if the answer would magically appear if she did so, waiting and looking and watching.

And by some miracle, it does, when she sees that letters have also been circled with the foods. Slowly, she pieces them together, lips ghosting over letters as she reads.

S-A-Y-O-U-N-A-R-A

Even if she isn’t entirely sure what such a thing means, Barbara can’t help but feel a little hopeful.

**Author's Note:**

> Hehhehe i hope you liked it UwU


End file.
